Public Property ?

[lakeland27]

today i had an incident occur involving my 3 and 3 quarter year old son . its something that happens reasonably often.. and i wonder if it is rude of me to respond in the way i do.

I take him with me to the local shopping precinct in order to run some errands , and he tends to attract a bit of attention from some 'ladies' there as he is rather a cute little chap (its in his DNA 🙂 thanks tone).

anyway, the first lady drops down to his level and says 'i'd like to take him home .. what a gorgeous little boy.. etc'' i say 'yes , a lot of people say that' (or something similarly bland) and the woman ignores me totally and continues to annoy him with tickles and other unwanted attention. I take his hand and walk on only for the same thing to happen again... lady talks to my son and ignores me totally. dont get me wrong, i don't want the attention of these people.. but i do get annoyed with the ignorant behaviour so i asked the 3rd person not to talk to him, and told her to 'retreat' in no uncertain terms as the boy gets tired of it himself. needless to say person No3 gets irate and calls me various things .

am i being unreasonable ? it seemed a fair number in the crowd there thought so.

[**meep**]

Most parents would be proud, why can't you thank them and move along? Or teach him some self protective behaviours. Most kids of that age are excellent at letting adults know when enough is enough, so I'm thinking it's more your problem than his. I'm thinking of a tshirt he could wear that would discourage the women 😄

yeah, what she said.....(maybe not the last bit lol)

[vintage-star]

whats the world coming to.....

you know, it has come to a point where an adult, especially a male would be too afraid to offer assistance to a child that was in trouble.....I have seen that happen...

Its not about what you suggest!

[**meep**]

What I am suggesting is that people are too afraid to even talk to a child these days because they are afraid of the reaction they are going to get !!!   

[kilroy_is_here]

for once im right in your corner LL you have to stand up when your kids cant.

altho i would not put him in a tony abbot t shirt if i were you you will only make him more popular;-)

[vintage-star]

In the situations created by people who prod and poke kids while their parents stand by, there is  no fear involved!..... Just rudeness in the form of ignorance of boundaries......in such cases, unwelcome attention is given with a great deal of arrogance!

[izabsmiling]

 fear would be involved where and when the child is afraid/or uncomfortable  Vintage.

[vintage-star]

Iza I was referring to the general population being afraid of approaching a child because of the possibility of being accused of having pedophiten like tendencies by a paranoid parent.

[izabsmiling]

Sorry Vintage, I thought you meant in the situation as a whole.

[vintage-star]

S'ok, Iza, I just know the situation well as a result of past experience.

[the_hawk*]

well i hope you are wrong. i don't need that kind of attention (or the problems it brings ;\)

LOL it happens heaps, try taking a dog for a walk in a park or a beach. 😉